Adrien Brody, Tessa Thompson to make Broadway debuts in ‘The Fear of 13’; complete cast set

Two-time Oscar winner Brody will reprise his Olivier Award-nominated performance from London in Lindsey Ferrentino’s legal drama, and Thompson newly joins the cast.

Summary

• Adrien Brody and Tessa Thompson will make their Broadway debuts in The Fear of 13 beginning March 19 at the James Earl Jones Theatre
• Brody plays a man wrongfully convicted for murder and put on death row in Lindsey Ferrentino’s real-life-inspired drama
• Brody is a two-time Oscar winner for The Pianist and The Brutalist
• Thompson is known for her roles in Hedda; Creed; and the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Two-time Academy Award winner Adrien Brody and Emmy and BAFTA Award nominee Tessa Thompson will make their Broadway debuts this spring in Lindsey Ferrentino’s drama The Fear of 13, playing at the James Earl Jones Theatre for 16 weeks only starting March 19. Opening night is April 15.

Brody is known for his Oscar-winning performances in The Pianist and The Brutalist, and his screen career has also earned him a British Academy Film Award, a Golden Globe Award, and three Emmy Award nominations.

Shortly before his 2025 Oscar win for The Brutalist, Brody made his London theatre debut in The Fear of 13’s world premiere at the Donmar Warehouse, earning a nomination for an Olivier Award. The actor reprises his role as Nick Yarris, for whom a traffic stop led to a murder conviction and 22 years on death row. The show unfolds through a series of conversations between the imprisoned Nick a volunteer named Jackie (Thompson), in which the line between witness and participant gradually blurs as they navigate justice, belief, and freedom.

“Brody is the real deal – a simmering, soulful theatre animal,” reads a five-star Fear of 13 review on London Theatre. “I surely wasn’t the only one [...] in awe of Brody’s impassioned commitment to this story of snatching victory from the jaws of psychic defeat.”

Thompson newly joins the production; she is best known for starring in the title role of the 2025 film Hedda, as Bianca Taylor in the Creed films, and as Valkyrie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The complete cast also includes Jeb Kreager as Man 2, Victor Cruz as Man 3, Tony Award nominee Ephraim Sykes as Man 4, Michael Cavinder as Man 5, Eddie Cooper as Man 6, and Joel Marsh Garland as Guard. Eboni Flowers, Jared Wayne Gladly, Joe Joseph, and Ben Thompson are understudies.

Tony Award winner David Cromer directs the play by Ferrentino, who just made her own Broadway debut in fall 2025 with The Queen of Versailles. The Fear of 13 is based on a true story, which was previously adapted into a documentary by David Sington.

The creative team includes scenic designer Arnulfo Maldonado; costume designer Sarah Laux; lighting designer Heather Gilbert; sound designer Lee Kinney; hair, wig, and makeup designers Rob Pickens and Katie Gell; music supervisor and arranger Bryan Carter; voice, text, and dialect coach Gigi Buffington; fight and intimacy directors Rocio Mendez and Dave Anzuelo; and story consultant Nick Yarris.

The Broadway production of The Fear of 13 is partnering with the Innocence Project, an organization that works to fight wrongful convictions through science.

Get The Fear of 13 tickets now.

Photo credit: Adrien Brody and Tessa Thompson. (Photos courtesy of production; Thompson photo by Cibelle Levi)